Jonathan Quick gets the nod over Ryan Miller in goal for Team USA against Russia

By From staff and wire reports

Friday, February 14, 2014

Jonathan Quick has played high-tension postseason games in several of the NHL’s most intimidating arenas over the last few seasons, and he came out holding the Stanley Cup above his head.

That’s why U.S. coach Dan Bylsma is confident his goalie can handle a whole different level of pressure when the Americans take on the home team in Sochi.

Quick will make his second start of the Olympics when the U.S. men’s hockey team faces Russia today in the biggest game of the tournament’s first week.

Quick made 22 saves in the Americans’ 7-1 victory over Slovakia on Thursday to win his Olympic debut. Bylsma chose him over Olympic veteran Ryan Miller (former Michigan State goaltender) on Friday to face the powerful Russian offense at Bolshoy Ice Dome, which will be packed with screaming fans for the revival of a classic hockey rivalry.

Quick reacted to the news with the same blank-faced understatement that’s well-known to Los Angeles Kings fans.

“I’m sure it’s going to be loud, and a lot of emotion in the arena, so we’re looking forward to it,” Quick told the Associated Press. “This is the kind of game that you want to play, that you want to be a part of, so it’s going to be fun.”

Bylsma said his decision was based on Quick’s work in the opener and his increasingly sharp play over the last month for the Kings.

“He played real well in Game 1,” Bylsma said. “I thought there were periods of inactivity in that game and he had to stay sharp, stay focused, and it was followed by two or three big saves he had to make. I thought he played real well in the game, and again in the next game he will.”

Although the winner will have a clear path to the quarterfinals in Sochi, nothing concrete will be decided when the Americans meet the Russians in the next chapter of the rivalry that’s still defined by the Miracle on Ice game in Lake Placid in 1980.

“I’m sure it’s going to be a battle for us, even with just the crowd,” center David Backes said. “There are a lot of passionate Russian fans, and we’re going to hear all of them.”

Also suiting up for the Americans will be Livonia native Ryan Kesler (Novi Detroit Catholic Central) of the Vancouver Canucks and Farmington Hills native Cam Fowler of the Anaheim Ducks. Both Kesler and Miller played on the 2010 U.S. team which lost the gold medal game in overtime to host Canada.

Miller, the MVP of the 2010 Olympic tournament, is a proven performer on the international stage in the midst of a strong season in Buffalo. Bylsma didn’t say whether Miller could get a start in the third game of the preliminary round against Slovenia on Sunday before the knockout portion of the tournament begins.

Abbott skate likes a champion

The lone Michigan athlete to hit the competitive arena was the redeeming performance of four-time U.S. champion Jeremy Abbott (Royal Oak) in the men’s figure skating free finals.

Abbott took a nasty fall on Thursday, which cost him any shot at winning a medal. Abbott was sitting in 15th place going into Friday’s final and put on a gritty effort to climb up to 12th position.

Must-see sledding

Friday’s best moment for Americans went to Noelle Pikus-Pace.

Calling it a perfect ending, Pikus-Pace capped her skeleton career with a silver medal, a result that will let her go into retirement feeling completely fulfilled. The margin between her and gold medalist Lizzy Yarnold of Britain over the four-run competition at the Sanki Sliding Center was nearly a full second, a margin that left no doubt who deserved the title.

And when it was over, Pikus-Pace couldn’t stop crying, though that had nothing to do with the result.

“Good as gold,” she told the Associated Press.

So ends a quintessential Olympic story. Her leg was shattered by a bobsled in 2005, costing her what would have been a huge chance for gold at the 2006 Turin Games. A mistake cost her a bronze medal in 2010 at Vancouver, the fourth-place finish there in what she thought would be her last race — by a mere tenth of a second — causing heartbreak and sending her into long sobbing fits.

For years, she tried telling just about everyone close to her that she was fine. For years, they knew otherwise. And when she returned two years later, those in her camp knew it was for a medal.

“Every race I write down three goals for myself and my No. 1 goal was: ‘This is it. Don’t get scared now,’” she said. “I just wanted to go out there and enjoy it and I did. Between runs I gave my coach Tuffy Latour a big hug and said, ‘This is it, this is what we’ve come all this way to do, to be here in this Olympic moment.’ And we did it and when I came down and I crossed that finish line, we truly did do it.”

On tap this weekend

In addition to the U.S.-Russia hockey game today, other Michigan athletes in action this weekend include:

Miller, Folwer, Kesler and the boys will skate again on Sunday against Slovenia, making its first ever appearance in the Olympics.